Effect of structure characteristics on glucono-δ-lactone-induced and calcium chloride induced gelation of potato pectin

The gelling properties of pectin depend on its structure. In this work, low methoxy potato pectin (PP) was enzymatically extracted. PP was modified using polygalacturonase (PG) and pectin lyase (PL) to elucidate the relationship between structural characteristics and gelation properties. PG-modified potato pectin (PG-PP) had the lowest molecular weight ( M w ) and homogalacturonan (HG) domain proportion, followed by PL-modified potato pectin (PL-PP) and PP. The gelation behaviors of PP, PG-PP, and PL-PP induced by glucono-δ-lactone (C 6 H 10 O 6 ) and calcium chloride (CaCl 2 ) were evaluated through a multidimensional characterization. The results revealed that the ranking of gel strength and creep recovery properties (C 6 H 10 O 6 -/CaCl 2 -induced PP > PG-PP > PL-PP) mirrored the order of their binding strength with C 6 H 10 O 6 /CaCl 2 in thermodynamic analysis, with CaCl 2 -induced gels exhibiting higher strength than those induced by C 6 H 10 O 6 . In conclusion, while reduced HG content and M w weaken gel strength, the saturation state of pectin's molecular structure exerts a greater impact on gelling properties.